The background story to the "Hand of Bigfoot" involves Tom Biscardi’s obtaining of the hand on April 19th, 2006, in a Pocatello meeting with a self-described “true world adventurer.”

Looking like a sideshow gaff, a created work, it is generating a lot of interest, not because it is proof of Bigfoot, but because it appears to be further evidence of Tom Biscardi’s Las Vegas promotional origins.

The hand Biscardi has came from the longtime but only recently covertly active Sasquatch investigator Don Monroe, who some say is in his 50s, while others say, his 70s. Monroe reportedly has had this hand for two years. The Sheriff’s Department in Butte, Montana, gave it to Monroe.

It was found at a dump and turned into them. They determined that it was not human and it kind of "weirded" them out, so someone thought was given to pass it along to someone. A member of the department knew of Monroe’s interest in Bigfoot. They decided to lend it to Monroe for further analysis. Technically, it still belongs to the Butte Sheriff’s Department.

Monroe does not have a computer, and does not know Biscardi that well. He has some misgivings about lending it to Biscardi, and is upset that Biscardi is now calling it a Bigfoot Hand. Monroe hopes to get it back soon. When the hand was found, it had the fingertips and the thumb to the first joint removed. Monroe sent Bigfoot researcher M. K. Davis X-rays of the hand to compare with other types of primate hands or bear paws. We are waiting for results here at Cryptomundo to pass on to our readers.

Davis, a good friend of Monroe’s, remarked: "Biscardi is P.T. Barnuming the thing."

For the initial item on how this began turning up in the media, see Craig’s posting here on Cryptomundo.

About Loren ColemanLoren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013.

Wow! Well if it was in a dump and turned over to police for investigation then why in God’s name would the police give evidence to a stranger before a full determination was completed…even if it was poaching or a legal disposal

At least the Okapi-cum-okapi and the gorilla and the coelacanth didn’t have to go through all this crap before they got honest-to-God discovered.

What is the big deal here? It’s not a shapeshifting, UFO-fraternizing, pyramid-power messenger from the Fourth Dimension. IT IS A BIG, BIPEDAL PRIMATE. Like us (wanna talk about a scifi freaky species!). Wait until you have REAL evidence. ‘Kay?

Now I’m “weirded” out. Okay, so some one is obviously playing a joke on some one else here. I think the sheriff’s dept needs to get that hand back, joke or not. The strangest part to me is that the fingertips and thumb were missing, as if some one was trying to hide fingerprints? Human hand? maybe mummified? bigfoot hand – doubt it, fabricated – most likely. I’d like to know more. How did they rule it that it wasn’t human. Further testing/analysis is needed. Biscardi needs to, well, put that hand to his face in a swinging motion.

I agree, the Butte Sheriff’s Department should have the hand back to do more tests. And exactly how they determined it’s not human should be disclosed. Even if it’s really not human the sheriff department pulled a boner – mistake in loaning it to ANYONE without more testing. As anyone can say anything if it remains unknown.

Could be a mummified something. Anybody know how much a hand would shrink when mummifying?

Great shades of Tom Slick!! Could this be a North American version of the famed Pangboche Hand? Unfortunately, I doubt anything Biscardi attaches himself to. Maybe the hand will be returned and real research can be done.

The police story sounds suspect too.
No matter how “creepy” it is, the hand is human looking enough to warrant investigation by the police, especially if the fingertips and thumb were removed (perhaps to hide fingerprints as planettom notes in post #7).
The whole story smells as bad as, well, as bad as I would expect a half-rotten mummified hand to smell.

where is the real forensic evidence here? I mean, wouldn’t it be really easy to have it thoroughly examined and rule out the endless possibilites? Known primate, unknown primate, adult, adolescent? If it is a bf hand, it would have to be from a juvenile…. As always, I am hopefully, but also very doubtful….

OK I wonder if this hand belongs to a Human or aminal then what is it doing in a dump??? Why no investgation done for aminal cruelty or human I mean come on how OFTEN is a hand found in the dump in this town??? My gosh I am glad I do not live in this town!!!

“Found at a dump”? Hmmm. We can rule out the “hand of glory” suggestion, since “magick” practitioners go for the left hand. Based on scale of the human hand holding this relic–and assuming it’s real–it would appear to be a money’s paw.

Well, to give at least a small amount of credit to Retardi, he didn’t claim he found it. But of courrse he had to ruin things by claiming it was a Bigfoot hand. Theoretically, Bigfoot remains would or could be consumed by porcupines and other animals, which is one of the reasons we haven’t found a corpse. Why would these carrion eaters leave a hand? This leads to a more thought provoking question….why does Biscardi think we’re dumb enough to buy anything he proposes?
It’s antics like this that make me wish Biscardi and Loren appeared on “Celebrity Death Match”